SoundJunction scoops major award
SoundJunction (www.soundjunction.org) has received the award for Digital Content at Secondary Level at the annual BETT awards. The award ceremony was attended by Richard Morris, Chief Executive of the Associated Board, Ben Sandbrook, Digital Learning Manager, and Mike Greenwood, Commissioning Executive at Culture Online.
The annual BETT Awards represent a partnership between Becta, the Government’s lead agency for ICT in education, BESA, the trade association representing the educational supply industry and Emap Education, the organisers of BETT – the largest educational technology show in the world.
The awards also recognise outstanding education sector products and learning solutions. Judges review the entries based on criteria including design, cost-effectiveness, support of higher order skills and effective learning and teaching styles. The technical criteria against which the awards were judged focused on the robustness and resilience of each product, and its accessibility for those with specific needs.
Ben Sandbrook, SoundJunction Project Manager said:
"SoundJunction has had a very successful run of awards but to win a Bett award is really a major achievement, and a fantastic credit to the hundreds of people who made SoundJunction what it is. This site’s all about finding new ways of encouraging musical exploration and creativity in young people and I hope this, such a prized endorsement, will help us get more people making music!"
For more information and to view film clips of the winning categories visit www.bettawards.com.
SoundJunction - the ground breaking new composing and music learning website - has already won several awards, including the New Media Age (NMA) Effectiveness Awards in 2006.
SoundJunction
The award winning website - www.soundjunction.org - is a new initiative from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) that aims to inspire musical learning and exploration by providing a wealth of information, interactive tools and know-how so that anyone can use it to delve deeper into the world of music. Commissioned by Culture Online (part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport) and built by Atticmedia, its development involved input from more than 200 top musicians, teachers, students and music industry professionals.
Commenting on the success of SoundJunction, Richard Morris, Chief Executive of the Associated Board said:
“In developing SoundJunction, our vision was to harness the power of online technology to create a resource that would encourage musical skills, understanding, exploration and creativity. We are delighted to have received this prestigious award and my thanks go to Culture Online, Atticmedia and to the many others whose knowledge and expertise have contributed to the realisation of this vision.”
Mike Greenwood, Commissioning Executive at Culture Online said:
“SoundJunction is a fantastic online experience that allows users to engage, to learn and to create. Culture Online is proud to have commissioned a resource that is both innovative and will have long-lasting value.”
Having launched to great acclaim in October 2005, SoundJunction is now averaging 90,000 page impressions a month and is on target to reach 250,000 to 500,000 young people in the UK over the next three years. The site features over 50 hours of audio and video and some 1,000 pages of content covering over 300 pieces of music from traditions around the world. Pioneering new tools, developed by Atticmedia, allow users to:
- Find out about composing, performing, recording and producing music
- Create their own music by remixing elements of specially-commissioned pieces with other ‘sound bites’ from the comprehensive SoundJunction library
- Listen to music specially written and recorded by more than 40 top musicians, remix artists and composers
- Explore music, take it apart, listen to different instruments and voices and find out how music works
- Discover music and instruments from different traditions - and different continents
Mark Weber, Chief Executive of Atticmedia commented:
“It's great to see an education site win a non-education award like this. The sheer volume of creative, learner-driven content on the website means that there's so much to watch, listen to and interact with. We had to really push the boundaries of technologies when creating SoundJunction and we're thrilled with the end result.”